Role & capabilities
- Loitering munition programme
- Primary domain
- Air
- System type
- Loitering munition
- Developer / manufacturer
- ADASI / EDGE
- Origin / production countries
- United Arab Emirates
- Other names
- No additional names recorded
- Variants / configurations
- SHADOW 50
- Operators / programme customers
- UAE Armed Forces — order announced; delivery totals unknown
Evidence & current status
Use the variant-specific 2025 catalogue. Family-level descriptions and the 2023 combined contract do not establish identical propulsion or acceptance for both types.
SHADOW 50 appears beside SHADOW 25 in the UAE procurement announcement, but the two names should not be treated as interchangeable configurations. EDGE’s February 2025 technical catalogue describes SHADOW 50 as piston-powered and gives a longer-endurance baseline. General exhibition language about the SHADOW range is less precise than this configuration-specific table.
The advertised nine-hour figure is conditional on a 25 kg payload. Recording the maximum payload alongside that endurance without its condition would imply a combination the source does not establish. The catalogue also separates a 100 km communications reach from endurance.
The 2023 order announcement establishes a customer commitment. It does not confirm how many SHADOW 50 aircraft were accepted, when they became operational or which later configuration the customer received. Those questions remain explicit so future updates can improve the record without rewriting an order as a delivery.
Sourced specifications
Figures apply to the named configuration. Maximum values are not guaranteed operating performance.
| Specification | Reported value | Context & source |
|---|---|---|
| Airframe | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Launch / recovery | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Propulsion | Piston engine | February 2025 SHADOW 50 table; not the SHADOW 25 jet baseline. Source |
| Dimensions | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Mass | 125 kg maximum take-off mass | Versioned supplier catalogue. Source |
| Endurance | Up to 9 hours with 25 kg payload | Conditional figure. Source |
| Range | 100 km communications reach | Not a mission-radius measurement. Source |
| Speed | 176 km/h | Catalogue figure; operating condition not further established. Source |
| Altitude | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Payload | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Sensors | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
| Communications / navigation | Not established in the reviewed public sources. | Public evidence gap. No estimate or neighbouring variant value has been substituted. Source |
Publication history
- — Published reference update.
Suggest a correction to this entry
Follow the evidence
Source types identify who makes the claim. Programme milestones and supplier statements should be read in context.